etrailer | Comparing Portable Flat Tow Braking Systems - Curt RVi and Blue Ox Patriot

Click for more info and reviews of this Blue Ox Flat Tow Brake System:
https://www.etrailer.com/Flat-Tow-Bra...
Check out some similar Flat Tow Brake System options:
https://www.etrailer.com/tow-bar-brak...

Click for more info and reviews of this CURT Flat Tow Brake System:
https://www.etrailer.com/Flat-Tow-Bra...
Check out some similar Flat Tow Brake System options:
https://www.etrailer.com/tow-bar-brak...

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Full transcript: https://www.etrailer.com/tv-review-co...
Hi, everyone. Jesse here with etrailer. Today we'll be comparing two of our most popular portable braking systems with the Curt RVI Brake 4 and the Blue Ox Patriot 3. Portable braking systems are a great option for you if you're looking for something that's going to be a simple, easy initial installation. However, you'll have to think about the fact that you will have to set this up every time you're going to flat tow, and also you'll have to find a place to store them. It's gonna be a good option for you if, say, you're just trying to not do something super invasive on your vehicle, something that's easily reversible, or if you have multiple vehicles that you're looking to flat tow, you can just swap this device over to each vehicle.

We'll start off by talking about some of these similarities between our two options here. Both of these will be proportional style braking systems, which means the harder you apply the brakes on a motor home then the harder the brakes get applied on your towed vehicle. These will both take 12 volt power with a similar cigarette style plug, and they both come with wireless monitors that will hook up into the motor home so you can monitor everything and make your adjustments. I'll walk you through how to set up the Patriot. One thing I do like about the Patriot is with the claw mechanism here, you just simply pull it together like that and it locks into place until you get it clamped around the brake pedal and you push that button and it will spring loaded clamp around it.

The back here where it gets its leverage from is adjustable. This will sit up against the bottom of your seat, so depending on your vehicle, you can get it adjusted. Today we're setting it up on a 2025 Jeep Gladiator, so we'll just open our claw up. I pushed the seat back just a bit, get that situated there. We do have adjustable feet also, so really the Patriot works with almost any vehicle.

That is another feature I like about it. We'll get this wrapped around our brake pedal, push the button. That'll lock in. Then we'll take our power cord, plug it into our 12 volt outlet and get our breakaway switch plugged in. Then we'll just simply scoot the seat forward.

We want to get pretty close to making contact, but not so it's pushing down on the brake pedal all the way. So get it as close as possible without actually touching it. I'll power it down because we already had ours set up before. Push the power button with your initial setup. And then since it adjusted, I'll move my seat forward. Hit the setup button. It's gonna run through its paces there. And once it gives you that solid green light, that means you're ready to hit the road. Now with the RVI Brake 4, one thing that stands out to me right off the bat is just how much smaller of a footprint this is. And you can also tell that when they we inchesre designing this, they we inchesre really thinking about making it as compact and portable as possible. So with your 12 volt plug, you actually have a slot that you can install it to, so you can wrap it around your cable tie there. And then with the claw, it has a couple little slots down here, so when you're storing it, you don't have to worry about that hanging out and possibly getting damage. When it comes to setting it up, it is a pretty simple process. It's gonna be a little bit different than the Patriot as it's not gonna go up to the seat. It's actually going to utilize this angle on your floorboard. And with the claw mechanism, it doesn't have that nice locking feature that the Patriot does. So most of the time when I'm setting these up, it will take two hands and can be kind of tricky. Put that wrapped around, holding onto our brake pedal here. Then we'll plug in our power source straight into our 12 volt. And then we can plug in our breakaway switch. And right when you plug it in. Announcer Push the auto-position button. Jesse You'll hear it talk to you, like that. It's telling me to push the auto-position button. And we'll have to push this three times to get it completely set up. So one more time. (machine rumbles) Also, the compressor is building up air right now, so it will make a little bit more noise tha